Tuscaloosa haunted house rises from the grave in downtown Northport

Sunday

Oct 13, 2013 at 10:00 AM

From the folks who brought us more than a decade's worth of Fright Factory comes a new haunted attraction: The Main Avenue Mortuary in downtown Northport. Although the Druid City has not been without Halloween festivities — our own Monster Makeover, fourth edition, is now on display at the Bama Theatre, Pink Box Burlesque held its sixth annual Masquerade on Saturday and the PBB with Wellthatscool.com will again bring a “Rocky Horror” show to the Bama on Friday — there's not been a full-scale haunted house attraction for the past four years.

By Mark Hughes CobbEntertainment Editor | The Tuscaloosa News

From the folks who brought us more than a decade's worth of Fright Factory comes a new haunted attraction: The Main Avenue Mortuary in downtown Northport.Guided by chief ghoul Cody Minor, the new haunted house promises bloody good times for Halloween, constructed in a converted 19th-century Victorian home turned mortuary turned butcher shop.And not the kind that sells happy little bacon.Although the Druid City has not been without Halloween festivities — our own Monster Makeover, fourth edition, is now on display at the Bama Theatre, with the closing reception and gala party Oct. 24; Pink Box Burlesque held its sixth annual Masquerade on Saturday; and the PBB with Wellthatscool.com will again bring a “Rocky Horror” show to the Bama on Oct. 25 — there's not been a full-scale haunted house attraction for the past four years. It's hard finding locations that are large enough to contain Minor's visions and props, yet vacant and also free or cheap to rent. But when it worked, it worked: Fright Factory was United Cerebral Palsy of West Alabama's biggest single fundraiser, bringing in $30,000 over costs some years.The new Main Avenue Mortuary opened Thursday at 315 Main Ave., Northport. It'll run 7-10 p.m. weeknights and 7-midnight weekends, including today, Thursday-Oct. 20 and Oct. 24-31. Tickets are $15 per person, and as in the past, a portion of proceeds go to charity; $1 from every ticket benefits the Boys and Girls Club of West Alabama.Some volunteers are still needed — you'll need to attend Ghoul School — so contact Brenda Ewart by email at brenda.ewart@townsquaremedia.com or 205-292-3992 if you're feeling the spirit. Or spirits.Affiliated with the house is the Bama Zombie Dash 5K on Oct. 27 at Kentuck Park. Runners will be chased by zombies hoping to grab their flags. A cash prize will greet the first runner across the finish line, presumably with at least one flag still intact. Those wishing to get chased can register online at any of Townsquare Media's five stations' websites, or at Wagner's Run/Walk store in Midtown Village. The entry fee is $30 in advance and $35 on race day.In its run, Fright Factory often outdid some larger, better-financed houses, such as Birmingham's Sloss Furnaces, which has great atmosphere but doesn't always follow through on its promise. While it reached toward the heights of the superb Atrox Factory in Leeds, Fright Factory brought a lot of boo for your buck — and without requiring a 90-minute round-trip drive.Of the 2005 Fright Factory, “Die-In Theatre,” I wrote in a review that it “juxtaposes incongruous visual elements to peachy finger-bruise effect." (The finger-bruise scale measures fear factor as determined by pairing with a complete and utter ninny who, despite being a theoretical adult, still reacts like a sugar-addicted little girl to every shock and surprise, clutching sweaty finger indentations into your otherwise rocklike biceps...)“Last year, we found Fright Factory so far superior to Birmingham's over-hyped Sloss Furnace festival that we aren't even returning to that Magic City mess.”Tragic City horrorsStill, my former partner in haunted-house investigation Anna Maria Della Costa — the above-mentioned ninny — and I did check out attractions from Birmingham to Atlanta. Some, like Sloss Fright Furnace, improved with time. Probably they heard us moaning.In 2008, I wrote “It's a twisty trail through rooms that seem to have been built for giants, by giants. Just walking through the place at night is creepy enough, as the building groans around you, settling further into rust and dust, while unknown hot and cold fluids drip incessantly.“A few years ago, Sloss wasted the space on goons in rubber masks running wild, bellowing and banging on trash can lids at random. Then about two years ago, it took a turn for the better, with more well-thought-out scares, intriguing use of lighting and less trash-can banging.“For 2008, Sloss has gone even deeper into plotting, with a shrinking room just for claustrophobics; a bug room full of maggots, roaches and other creepy-crawlies; sewers, swamps, hillbillies and 20-foot flying zombies. It ends with the popular 3-D maze, which is more showy than spooky, but a nice throwback to the days of 3-D horror films.”2013's version includes much of the popular exterior show party — movies, bands, the Roadkill Cafe — and has expanded to Outbreak, a zombie-apocalypse attraction; the Woods Tour catacomb; and the main event, the Furnace Tour.Get combo tickets including all three for $20 weeknights, $22 on weekends and Halloween; or pay $17 weeknights and $19 weekends and Halloween for the Furnace Tour alone.For more, see www.frightfurnace.com.Though Sloss may be better known thanks to its imposing silhouette near Birmingham's downtown, Leeds' Atrox Factory, on the east side of the city, has rightly gained and passed it in renown among horror house fans. While its exterior setting — an old factory, naturally — doesn't light up quite as spookily, the interior more than makes up for it, with movies, food and horror-star visits in the lobby to distract you while you wait for your group — Bones, Blood, etc. — to get called. This year's movie/TV guests include Daniel Yeager of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Naomi Grossman of “American Horror Story” and William Forsythe of “Halloween” and “The Devil's Rejects.” There'll also be performances by an attraction called Freakshow Madness; use your imagination there. Atrox closes Mondays and Tuesdays, and expect long waits on the weekends.A few years back, I wrote: “One of the more consistently successful haunted houses in the area, Atrox Factory probably most closely resembles what Tuscaloosa's Fright Factory will likely become. If Fright Factory had the budget and manpower that Atrox commands, it would probably look a lot like this: 40,000 square feet and a quarter of a mile in gruesome scars.“Both Fright Factory and Atrox feature walk-throughs that make maximum use of generic factory space with a combination of misdirections, eerie lighting, jarring animatronics and committed actors to give a thoroughly immersive — be careful walking too close to the spurting blood — fright experiences.”For more, see www.atroxfactory.com.By the way, haunted-house websites are generally not for the squeamish, and possibly not for young kids. The designers go all out...of their minds.Others that might be worth visiting, should you be feel a haunted-roadtrip sort of feeling coming over you:-- Insanitarium, 5320 Miles Spring Road, Pinson (Jefferson County). www.catacombproductions.com.-- Spooktrail, 17327 Highway 269, Quinton (Walker County). www.spooktrail.com.-- Warehouse 31, 3050 Lee St., Pelham (Shelby County).www.warehouse31.com.Find details on other statewide haunted attractions at www.alabamahauntedhouses.com.Hotlanta's NetherworldIf you're up for a longer jaunt, Atlanta's Netherworld, another dark walk-through, is considered by aficionados to be one of the country's best, if not its very best, haunted attractions, year after year. This place shows all the bells and whistles, along with steam and axes and acid-dripping aliens. Netherworld proudly displays its origins, as a creation of former movie and theater tech folk: gore galore.There are two attractions for 2013: Boogeyman (despite the title, not for kids); and The Dead Ones.Haven't been there yet this year, but here's part of what I wrote about a Netherworld trip in 2007: “Atlanta's Netherworld is housed in an old department store, smack in the middle of the mattress showroom/hot tub warehouse district up Interstate 85, off Jimmy Carter Boulevard. Not promising.“But as you get closer, the tricked-up faces, the inflated monsters, the all-in-black, obviously enjoying themselves Netherworld workers, all more than make up for the mundane locale. ...“Netherworld just does it all, bigger and better: Yes, other places have vortex rooms, but this one is longer and trippier. Other haunts might slant the floor beneath your feet; at Netherworld, it shakes and jitters like a freaking earthquake.”Netherworld is at 6624 Dawson Blvd. in Norcross. See www.fearworld.com or call 404-608-2484 for more.